|
At Y-PEER, no bar to the topics for debate
|
|
|
Sarah MacDonald, Oman
|
|
|
Muscat: Sometimes youth don’t want to hear about important issues from their parents. They’re more comfortable discussing topics like drugs, traffic safety, and HIV/AIDS with people their own age, so now a group of young Omanis is using creative ways to spread information about important subjects with
their peers.
The young Omanis are members of Y-PEER, a network supported by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which encourages youth to volunteer and share information with other youth who might not hear it otherwise.
“Y-PEER isn’t about telling youth what’s right and what’s wrong. It’s about creating awareness and encouraging youth to talk about topics,” says Salah Al Saleh, a program associate at UNFPA who oversees the Y-PEER network.
Spreading the message
Since 2008 many young Omanis have joined Y-PEER to help spread messages about HIV/AIDS, the environment and the growing world populations, to name a few. Currently there about 30 active volunteers in the Y-PEER network, though at times there have been over 80.
Fatma Al Zadjali, a 25-year-old with a degree in Tourism Management who works for OmanAir joined in 2011 because her sisters were active members in it. She saw that it was an effective way to help other youth. She says often parents don’t know how to communicate with youth in a way that makes them listen.
“Parents want to give orders, but youth don’t want to be ordered. If I’m talking to my friend or someone my age, I don’t order, I just give my opinion,” Fatma says.
Rather than simply giving lectures, the Y-PEER volunteers uses fun activities to catch the interest of young people, and deliver important messages in entertaining ways, says Azza Al Badi, 25, one of the first members of Y-PEER in Oman. Y-PEER participates in events like the Muscat Festival and Khareef Festival in Salalah, and open days at colleges.
They use dancing, theatre, car shows, talent shows, and other activities to make learning about serious issues fun and appealing to youth. They call it “edutainment,” in which youth are entertained and educated at the same time, explains Saif Al Sharji, a 30-year-old member who joined in 2008..
Azza, who works for the National Ferries Company, was a member of Scouts, and UNFPA recruited the first Y-PEERs from Scouts, since they were youth who were already concerned about their society and willing to volunteer. The innovative approaches to communicating with youth appealed to her, so she decided to join.
She says Y-PEER is important in Oman because it’s youth-to-youth communication. Azza admits that before joining Y-PEER, she was apprehensive about speaking about sensitive subjects like HIV, but soon realized how important it was. “If we don’t have Y-PEER, who will help youth to solve their problems and correct their misconceptions? For example, some college students don’t know where HIV comes from,” says Azza.
Campaigns like the HIV/AIDS campaign are important because even though Oman doesn’t have high rates of infection, the Y-PEERs want to keep it that way so sharing information is key.
“We need to cross the red line and talk about HIV and AIDS, but the way we’re talking about it is fun. It is making games, having a freestyle show, and attracting young people to come. Then we give them flyers and tell them about the HIV/AIDS campaign,” says Saif.
UNFPA campaign
They are currently involved in the UNFPA’s 7 Billion Campaign, which spreads information about the impact the global population is having on the world. Other topics they think are important for youth to talk about include the environment, drug addiction, reproductive health, time management, getting youth involved in society and traffic safety. They are currently in the process of reaching out to other organizations to develop new campaigns.
“There are a lot of issues that we’re aiming for,” Azza says.
Salah says Y-PEER usually collaborates with other organizations or ministries who have resources and information. For example, with the HIV/AIDS campaign they worked with the Ministry of Health. The Y-PEERs get training from professionals with accurate knowledge about the different subjects. The members also train each other before going out into the community.
“We make sure we get the right information from them,”
Salah explains.
Salah says this type of volunteering isn’t just about serving the community, but it allows the members to grow, too. “It’s about giving to the community, but we have to remember that it’s an international network and they can travel, attend international conferences and meetings, and when they come back they’ve seen new things and it’s good for them, too,” he says.
A project control engineer by day, Saif says he has found that Y-PEERs has opened many doors for him, including international training experiences in Bahrain and Europe, and a fellowship with the UN Alliance of Civilizations.
Fatma says the members use their own strengths and creativity to contribute to the organization. “We also develop our hobbies and our interests by doing things for others with Y-PEERs,” she explains. “Personally I’ve learned a lot and I’ve seen a lot of new things. I thought that Omanis wouldn’t understand Y-PEER, but when I talk about it I found that they’re encouraging it.
I felt that there are parents who are interested and happy to see there are dedicated youth trying to help their own generation.”
|
